


the great splatter

by perhapssoon



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Hunger Games AU, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Violence, i should tag literally everyone in this but i cant remember them all, ppl die lol, sanitized ppl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapssoon/pseuds/perhapssoon
Summary: Gloves should've known that this was nothing related to Turf War. But with Inklings being killed left and right by their own friends, he realizes that maybe it's too late to start hoping.





	1. out of place, out of time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for death and violence in each chapter

Turf War was one thing, The Great Splatter was something entirely different. And the worst part of it was that Gloves had no idea what was coming.

"It says here that they do it every year, with water instead of ink," Half-Rim reports, the tint in his glasses hiding his eyes. He holds up a leather book filled with brightly colored sticky notes so slicked with greenish-blue ink that it slides out of his hands every two seconds. “Each person from a team goes in one at a time and fight other Inklings until they are splatted. No one knows where they go after they are splatted."

"Wait, so we might not come back?" Straps looks up at the ceiling of where they are held. "That's scary."

"And the next person fills in until the entire team has gone in. Last Inkling standing wins," Half-Rim continues, flipping through the book. "And there are scribbles here, warning us things. Most likely from the previous teams who were here."

Gloves takes a look at the room they are held in. It resembles a steel box, with carvings scattered across the walls and floor. Ink stains make the place even more ominous. The only source of light comes from air holes punctured in the ceiling, and the whole area is filled with freezing cold air.

"So we all die," he says, heart sinking. "That's not trendy at all."

"No, it really isn't." Straps looks like she's going to throw up. "We have to fight our friends to the death. This is really stupid."

"Hey, at least we don't have to fight each other," Clip reminds everyone, and Straps' eyes grow wide. 

"Okay, how is that supposed to help us?" 

Clips shrugs. Her face is paler than normal, and if Gloves didn't know better, he thinks she'd faint on the spot. "Just trying to be positive."

Half-Rim seems to be the only one unfazed by their whole situation. "We get to choose our weapons, and make alliances. That's it. The rest of the pages are covered in death threats and cries for help."

"So we go all out and kill Inklings," Clip summarizes with a shudder. "What a cheery thought."

"More like terrifying," Half-Rim says, putting the book down and wiping his hands on his shorts.

"You barely seem scared, or even nervous," Straps accuses, and Half-Rim blinks at her.

"Oh, I'm terrified. More disgusted, if I were to choose my wording more accurately. I believe if you want me to show it more, wait until the moment when I have to go in the arena."

"I don't want to wait for that," Straps says, foot tapping against the floor in agitation. "I want to leave this place and never come back."

"I agree," Gloves says. "Why hasn't anyone rebelled yet?"

"Too scared, probably," Clip says.

"Guys, shh!" Straps interrupts. "I can hear someone talking!"

Gloves can hear it too. It's very hard to miss, and it sounds like a loudspeaker is being broadcasted directly into their cell.

"Attention Inklings! The time for The Great Splatter has begun! A slip of paper will be dropped through the air holes in your cell with the name of the first Inkling from each team to go into the arena. Please stay safe out there!"

"Pfft," Half-Rim snorts, leaning against the wall. "'Stay safe.' That's a joke."

There's a sudden whirring noise and a scroll drops in through the ceiling and lands at Gloves' feet. He stares at it in shock, body frozen. He doesn't want to open that scroll.

"Uh, Gloves?" Clip's voice comes out as a squeak. "Are you- are you going to open it?"

Almost as if in a trance, he reaches down and unrolls it, reading the single name on the paper: 

"Straps."

Straps swallows and stands slowly, wobbling slightly. "O-okay, uhm," she hesitates, unsure of what to say. "See you around, I guess."

Clip launches herself at her friend, tackling her in a large hug. "Please don't die," she whispers, her words barely heard above the creaking of the door to the cell being opened.

"I'll try not to," Straps promises, and after waving to Half-Rim and Gloves, disappears into the unknown.

\----

A TV suddenly appears in the already cramped cell, nearly crushing Half-Rim with its weight as it's dropped down through the ceiling.

It flickers on as soon as it hits the floor and the three remaining members from Gloves' team have to frantically tilt it upright before they can see the screen.

There's an Octoling, with green and blue tentacles, standing in front of a podium, what looks like an old-fashioned telephone behind her and rows of Octolings that look identical to her sitting in rows behind her as well.

"Welcome, everyone, to the fifty-sixth annual Great Splatter Games!" Her tone doesn't match her expression, making it seem extremely off, like a badly recorded audio. "Each team was provided with a booklet for the rules of the game. And it is this: there are no rules. Ensure your team is the last one standing, and you win The Great Splatter! The list of contestants in the first round will be posted to the left of your screen."

Almost as if on cue, a holographic screen flickers to life, displaying 16 names on the board. Each one is highlighted their ink color and had a green dot next to their name.

"The dot next to the contestant's name shows whether they are alive or not," the Octoling continues. "And once they are killed, another scroll will appear in your cell, telling you who the next contestant from your team is! Good luck to all of you, and have a great time!"

The TV screen then flickers to show the arena from above. Gloves locates Straps rather quickly, due to her bright green tentacles. "Oh no, Headphones is the only sniper this round," Clip says, eyes glued to the screen.

"This literally is saying 'you have friendships? Screw them because you have to kill each other to save your teammates'," Gloves growls. "This is insane."

"It is rather cruel," Half-Rim muses. "However, I heard rumors of that agency, the Squidbeak somethings trying to get a rise on the government."

"Hopefully they succeed before anyone dies," Clip says, and as soon as she says it, a loud _bang_ echoes through their cell. Clip shrieks, Gloves leaps back and bangs his head against the wall and Half-Rim just raises his eyebrows.

"That means someone died, apparently," Half-Rim reports, scanning the booklet.

Gloves scrambles over to the holographic screen. "Scuba-kun just died. Killed by..."

His finger trails over the name and his eyes widen.

"Straps."

"She might survive," Clip says hopefully.

"Maybe." Half-Rim pushes the end of his glasses to sit higher on his nose. "We can only hope."


	2. making it worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things kinda go great.

It‘s a kill zone. A merciless one at that. The Corninkcopia, according to that booklet, was something that should be avoided if possible. But Straps didn't want to avoid it. She doesn't know why.

She is armed with her own weapon, the one she used for all the turf battles. It seemed like a cruel joke, to be allowed to use something usually intended for fun, but upgraded to kill.

And she didn't mean to kill Scuba-kun. It was an accident. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and she doesn't think she even swung at him in the first place but the cannon went off and it was too late anyway. She's sure that Aloha is screaming in anguish somewhere but she can't think of that now. She needs to make sure her team won't end up in this hellhole.

She enters the Corninkcopia, and is immediately grateful the Octolings didn't make her acquire her Roller here. Inklings are being splatted left and right, and one particular horrific death makes her freeze before Eging Jr darts past her, clash blaster emitting bright sparks as water explodes from the barrel, only to be shot down by Headphones, who is balancing precariously on the edge of the Corninkcopia. A cannon bang echoes through the arena and Straps takes it as her cue to grab something random and go.

So she does.

There is a forest lining one part of the arena; the rest is open space, with levers and switches, much like those during the Splatfest maps. She sprints to the forest, Splat Roller hoisted over her shoulder to make running easier. She's distinctly aware of the commotion behind her, but she just wants to get out of there. The object that she had gotten from the Corninkcopia is getting heavier in her hands by the second and when she finally deems it safe enough to stop running, she takes a glance at it.

It seems to be some kind of box, equipped with an antenna and mini screen. She doesn't have to look twice to know this is a remote for something. And she has a pretty good idea that it's not to blow up a landmine or something quite similar.

She looks upwards, hoping there's a camera aimed on her (Half-Rim had said The Great Splatter was purely for entertainment purposes) and waves her hand, manipulating it in the way she and her team had practiced since they were in the cell together. Half-Rim, always the one to come up with things related to humans, had called it American Sign Language.

_Hiding something here._

She kneels and buries the remote in the dirt. She'll most likely die, though she wants to drag it out as long as possible. 

She jumps as two cannons go off in the distance and picks up her Roller to retreat further into the woods.

No one has ever taught her survival skills, most likely because she had her friends watching her back, and even before that, Clip. But she's determined to survive. If not for herself, then for her friends.

A rustling noise draws her attention, and she whips around, Roller ready to splat if needed, but Headphones emerges from the brush, arms raised and charger dropped on the ground in surrender.

"Hey, I just want to talk. You up for an alliance?"

Straps narrows her eyes. In any other circumstance, she would gladly accept the help but here, she couldn't trust anyone.

"How do I know if you are trustworthy?"

Headphones sighs. "You don't. But I hate this place and I want to get out of here. Forming an alliance with everyone would be better but everyone's on edge."

Straps hesitates. She doesn't know if she should accept, and possibly risk her entire team. But Headphones looks genuine, and as far as Straps has known, the other Inkling is terrible at lying.

"Alright, fine." She reluctantly lowers her Roller and Headphones looks relieved. “You want to take people down or just avoid them?”

Headphones shrugs. “Taking people down sounds good, but I don’t want to kill anyone.”

“The government was smart,” Straps muses. “Either you kill your friends or kill your teammates.”

“It’s like choosing between your lover and the world,” Headphones sighs, before picking up her charger again and clips the safety off. “Let’s find a good hiding spot.”

“Hold on, I want to do something first,” Straps says and when Headphones nods, she turns to face the sky again and signs five words: _Don’t worry, I’ll be okay._

————--

She finds out quickly that Headphones is great at climbing trees. Maybe it has something to do with being a sniper, but Straps has trouble lugging her Roller up the tree.

“So we just sit here?” she whispers. Headphones nods and trains her charger at the clearing below them. 

It takes a moment, but Straps soon realizes what she’s waiting for. Hat-chan and Rider-kun are walking through the clearing below them, talking about something that is lost to her.

"So if we move through the forest a diagonal slant, we can cover more ground that way," Hat suggests and Rider frowns.

"We would become more separated that way," he says. "I think if we can--"

A rustling noise draws Straps' attention and she can see Piranha Mask-kun peering at the two in the clearing, and Hat turning to face him and motioning to Rider. Headphones sees them too and opens her mouth to warn Rider but it's too late.

In one movement, Hat rips Rider's Dynamo Roller away from him, kicking him backwards as Piranha comes from the bushes and grabs Rider's arms, securing him to the floor with his whole weight.

Rider growls in anger and faster than they could push him down, he's up again, Dynamo Roller back in his hands, Hat shoved backward, and his eyes narrowed into slits. "What the shell are you doing? I thought we had a deal!"

Neither of the other two Inklings reply and rush him, water splashing everywhere as they struggle to land a hit on him.

Even while outnumbered, Rider is still a formidable opponent. Straps actually fears for Hat and Piranha as Rider becomes a literal ball of rage, Dynamo slamming in the ground so violently that a few drops of water somehow make it through Straps' shelter and landing to sizzle on her skin.

A loud thump shows that Piranha is down, Rapid Blaster thrown clear across the clearing, barrel snapped in two. Rider walks over to him in large strides, the water dripping and partially melting the side of his torso making him look like a deranged zombie. "Last chance to say your goodbyes," he snaps. His eyes are wild and his chest heaving as he raises the Dynamo Roller over Piranha.

Straps suddenly can see Hat behind him, Nozzlenose drawn. She knows by now that this is a lost cause; Rider won't survive this encounter. But she wants to -- needs to -- remind him to not drop his guard, to focus on both opponents, _to turn around before--_

Hat practically throws her Nozzlenose into Rider's back, sending him sprawling forward, as Piranha rolls out of the way and immediately climbs on top of Rider, pinning him to the ground by sitting on him.

Rider thrashes, nearly throwing Piranha off, but the other Inkling firmly digs his heels into the dirt, picking up Hat's fallen Nozzlenose and pressing it into the back of Rider's head as he moves back to keep his legs pinned.

Hat approaches, Rider's Dynamo in both hands. Straps' heart nearly stops.

Hat slams the Dynamo Roller -- she wobbles quite a bit while handling it -- onto Rider's torso, causing the opposing Inkling to cough and gasp for air.

"You little--" he growls, face twisted in pain as Hat slowly starts to roll the Dynamo Roller over his body.

Hat smiles eerily. "You are a large opposition, you know that, right? If you had your way, you would've killed me."

There's a distant cannon boom as if to prove her point, and Rider looks away, confirming her suspicions, his eyes filled with anger and regret. Headphones shifts in her spot in the tree to aim at Hat, but Straps shakes her head at her.

"Do it, Hat-chan!" Piranha says, eyes wild and Hat glances at him and slowly increases the pressure, Rider's eyes bulging as she practically lifts her whole body off the ground to push it forward. He struggles wildly, but it only seems to make it worse.

Straps closes her eyes, not wanting to see the gruesome end as a sharp popping noise is heard, but _two_ cannons go off. When she looks back down, she can see Hat panting, Rider's Roller besides her, standing alone in a pool of water.


	3. when the world comes down

[[ROUND ONE: START

COMPETITORS:

Headphones-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Gasmask-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Army-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Scuba-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Jersey-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Squid-stitch-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Backwards-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Skate helmet-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Vader cap-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Straps-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Rider-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Hat-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))

School Dango-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Squash Headband-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Piranha Mask-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Eging Jr ((STATUS: DECEASED))

]]

When Hat finally leaves, Straps and Headphones climb down from the tree, silent in shock.

"Was it just me or was that savagery?"

"It was savagery," Straps replies, still shaken.

"I wonder if--" Headphones suddenly breaks off and her eyes widen. "Quick! Behind that bush!"

Straps doesn't question; she just follows. Giving Headphones a confused look, she attempts to peek through the bushes but Headphones grabs her.

"Someone's coming!"

They sit in silence, listening to rustling, grunting, and other worldly weird sounds coming from the clearing, but eventually, Straps can hear a voice that sounds rather familiar.

"N-no, _no_ , _please_..."

Straps squints to see through the foliage she's crouching behind, but she doesn't need to. Headphones stiffens beside her as both Inklings take in the scene at the same time.

Gasmask, Skate Helmet and Tri are all standing in a circle, weapons drawn at an Inkling lying on the ground, half dissolved with water.

Straps can see orange.

Army.

" _Please."_

He tries to crawl away but Gasmask places a foot on his back, keeping him in place. "You aren't going anywhere."

Straps wonders what it would be like in his place. To look up at these Inklings who usually reacted to each other in good spirits but now face them as an enemy. She wondered what it was like to face the unknown

"We need to help him!" Headphones hisses, and she raises her charger, but Straps knows it won't work. Army is injured, and two against three is not fair, especially since Headphones wields a charger.

"We can't," Straps murmurs back, and slowly, Headphones lowers her weapon, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes.

"This 'game'... it's so _cruel_."

Straps doesn't reply to that. She can't. She's learning the hard way that saying anything won't _change_ it.

Army is actually crying now, struggling to get away but Skate Helmet presses his blaster against his chest to pin him to the ground. "Y-you can't. No... Please, _have mercy_." His eyes dart to Tri. "You're on Mask's t-team. Please, you d-don't have to d-do this. I-it's because of Jersey-chan, isn't it?"

Tri steps forward, eyes surprisingly cold, hoisting his Tri-Slosher to hover directly above Army. He purposely ignores his last question. "There is no mercy in The Great Splatter. You, Army-kun, of all people should remember that. Mask sends his regards."

Army is shaking, curling in on himself. "I'm sorry," he whispers, words coming out in shallow gasps. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm--"

Straps looks away, eyes closing in a moment of silence as a cannon blast echoes through the arena.

\--------

It's two deaths now, two that she had witnessed in that clearing and she doesn't want to stay.

"I want to leave this place," she tells (as quietly as she can so the remaining Inklings in the clearing can't hear her) Headphones, who nods. 

"So do I," she says, and there's a sudden whooshing noise before everything goes black.

\----- **GLOVES**

[[ROUND ONE: START

COMPETITORS:

Headphones-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Gasmask-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Army-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Scuba-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Jersey-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Squid-stitch-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Backwards-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Skate helmet-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Vader cap-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Straps-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Rider-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Hat-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))

School Dango-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Squash Headband-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))

Piranha Mask-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))

Eging Jr ((STATUS: DECEASED))

]]

He watches in horror as a wave of water washed through the forest, flattening the trees and killing any Inklings inside. At the same time, five cannon booms are heard, a pause, followed by two more. The small dot next to Straps' name turns red and another scroll falls through the ceiling.

It all happens to fast that Gloves finds himself picking it up and reading it before he can stop himself.

"Clip."

Clip is crying, shoulders shaking in silent sobs. "Straps-chan is gone--" she whimpers. Gloves embraces her gingerly.

"I know, and I wish we could've done better, but it's no use."

Clip just shakes her head and dries her eyes, grinning fiercely at him. "I'll win for us. I promise."

And she's gone, right as three more cannons sound off.

Now it's just Half-Rim and Gloves, and the TV screen that sits mockingly on one edge of the cell.

Half-Rim clears his throat. "Everyone from Round One is dead. And we're screwed because the Emperor is in the arena now."

"Is that why those cannons went off?"

Half-Rim shrugs. "I'm trying not to watch."

"You are unusually calm."

"Says you, the Inkling who freaks out at ice cream flavors."

They're bantering, like they did before they got dragged into this mess. It gives Gloves a pang of nostalgia but he pushes it down.

"Well, I don't suppose you have an idea to get out of here?" he responds.

Half-Rim knocks on the wall he's leaning against, the metal making a short clanging sound. "These walls are connected," he says, "to other cells."

"How do you even know that?" Gloves isn't sure if he's just not as observant or if Half-Rim is good at subtly testing density of walls, but whatever it is, he will take it as a way to escape this place. "Holy carp, you aren't lying?"

Half-Rim shakes his head, the beginning of a smile crossing his face briefly before vanishing. "A cell sitting in the middle of nowhere with this thin of a wall would make a more echoed sound. This one is shorter, and vibrates less because of the other cells connected to this one. And if you knock here--"

He does it as he speaks, rapping his knuckles against the bottom-most corner of the wall. He waits and a second later, the knock comes back. "Someone's on the other side."

"How by the Great Zapfish did you even figure it out?" Gloves asks incredulously.

"You were more focused by the TV," Half-Rim replies, and another cannon sounds in the distance.

Gloves glances in the direction of the sound and turns back to Half-Rim. "Okay, but how does this help us?"

"We can somehow break through the cells once we're in the arena," Half-Rim replies. "That remote that Straps found? It's a bomb. One of those Splat Bombs. It was a prototype made by Sheldon, though it never went on sale because of the distinct disadvantage with the hidden feature."

"Hidden--?"

"It means that it can fold up into a small chunk of metal and it expands and explodes once a liquid makes contact with it."

"And you know all of this because..."

Half-Rim actually smiles this time, showing his teeth. "The Squidbeak Splatoon is helping us. It's our job to follow through."

He lifts the booklet that he had been reading from before Straps was called into the arena and flips it to the back page. It's covered in black ink. But there, scribbled in bright green ink were the words: _We're here to help_ , along with smaller words near the bottom, in bright pink, _Squidbeak Splatoon._


	4. some hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There may be some hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god this was just sitting unposted in my wips folder but i got the next chapter out now :) i'm not really sure if this is something people read still but it's worth a shot, right?

[[ROUND ONE: END

ROUND TWO: START

COMPETITORS:

Bobble-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Olive-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Sailor-white chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Straw-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Tri-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Aviator-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Beanie-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Stripe-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Ikarus-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Clip-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Blazer-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Inkfall-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
School Metry-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Tennis Headband-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Squid Mask-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Emperor ((STATUS: ALIVE))

]]

She didn't know what to expect as she stepped out of the cell that she had been in for more than three hours. The sun was setting, but there were lights leading down a narrow walkway that appeared to be suspended several feet above the actual floor of the arena. 

Carefully following the lights, Clip wonders exactly where this leads to, until an Octoling suddenly appears in front of her, holding a pair of Dualie Squelchers.

"You will use these in The Great Splatter," the Octoling intones before retreating.

Clip stares at the weapons in her hand and then the gateway in front of her, which had appeared out of nowhere. Someone shoves past her and goes through the gate so quickly that she barely recognizes them as Lyvader-kun.

Taking a deep breath, she glances back at the cells behind her before entering through the gates.

_This is for my team. For Straps. For every Inkling forced to murder their friends in cold blood._

\----------

The Corninkcopia looms in front of her, mocking her. She's seen it from the TV, of course, but seeing it in person gives her a whole wave of terror and anger.

No one is near it now, since all of the supplies have been taken, along with a few Inklings' lives, but Clip goes there anyway, just to check.

There's nothing there.

Disappointed but not surprised, Clip leaves, making sure to avoid the forest this time. She doesn't want to die so early on.

The rest of the arena is riddled with levers, switches, and strange holes, things that Clip avoids as best she can.  Some of the switches have water on them, yet they aren't activated. Clip steps over them and moves on.

A loud cannon fire startles her, however, and she trips, losing her balance right as a switch, activated from the dripping water from her dualies, opens a gaping hole in front of her.

And Clips falls into the hole, landing on top of someone, who squeaks in surprise.

"Bobble-chan?"

"Clip-chan!" Bobble responds, beaming.  She doesn't seem to be fazed by the fact that they are trapped in a hole in the middle of The Great Splatter. "How are you!"

"Not great," Clip says slowly. "Wait, Headphones-chan is gone, right?" 

"Yeah.." A flicker of sadness crosses Bobble's face before she grins again. "But it's okay, because we're allies now! Headphones-chan and Straps-chan teamed up and we can too!"

Clip starts to smile. "And maybe not get splatted by a wave of water this time."

"Yup!" Bobble shifts, glancing up at the entrance of the hole. "Do you know how to get out?"

Clip thinks for a moment before feeling the sides of the hole with her hands. "It is really smooth. Maybe I can jam my dualies into the wall?"

Without waiting for Bobble's response, she reaches up with her Squelchers and shoves both into the wall, and uses them to hoist herself off of the other Inkling.

She pulls herself to stand on her dualies, and hoping it wouldn't break, she reaches over the edge of the hole and pulls herself out and then waits for Bobble.

The other Inkling tosses her Slosher over the edge first, which Clip barely manages to catch, before following and climbing over the edge herself, kneeling to pull Clip's dualies out as well.

She hands them over with a bright smile and Clip exchanges them for Bobble's Slosher. "That was fun!"

Clip swallows, eyes darting around the arena to see if anyone saw her, but no one else is in sight. "Yeah, it was," she says eventually.

"So now what?" Bobble turns as well, scanning the area for any danger before looking back at Clip.

"We survive. And kill, if you want," Clip says determinedly.

"Yay, killing!" Bobble swings her Slosher in a wide arc, careful not to spill any water on herself. "This is great! We'll win!"

Clips nods distractedly, eyes suddenly going towards movement in the distance. The figure approaching them is carrying dualies. And that hairstyle looks awfully familiar....

"It's Emperor," Clip whispers to Bobble, who turns.

"Run!" Bobble squeals and they dash off in the opposite direction.  

But Emperor apparently is king at running as well, because he catches up to them extremely quickly.

Clip readies her dualies in case of a fight but all Emperor does is turn to Bobble and ask, "You're part of the Idiot Team, right?"

"Yep!"

Emperor scoffs, and turns away. "If you die, and that idiot 'Goggles' is next, he should know I'll be hunting him the whole time."

Bobble beams. "Okay! Thank you for not killing us!"

Emperor just rolls his eyes and stalks away, and Clip keeps an eye on him until he vanishes into the forest.

"What do you think that was about?" Clips asks, still looking in Emperor’s direction, even though the older Inkling is long gone. 

“He only wants Goggles-kun,” Bobble replies cheerily. “Not us.”

“Well if he wants Goggles, wouldn’t it be best to get him into the arena faster?”

Bobble shrugs. “Maybe.”

"Not really helpful but okay!" Clip glances around the arena nervously. "What do we do now?"

\---------- **GLOVES**

His heart is pounding furiously, his fingers digging into the various rivets in walls. He never wanted to be here, he never wanted to be here, he never---

"Hey." He looks up to see Half-Rim watching him, some expression of concern written across his face. "You good?"

"Y-yeah." He pushes himself upright, grinning as best he can despite the situation. "I'm fine."

Half-Rim makes a noncommittal noise and turns back to flipping through the handbook. "This reminds me of Army's manual," he says after a moment, and Gloves' stomach drops at the mention of the dead Inkling's name. He has seen Army's death in full view. The camera had made sure to zoom in on him as he died. "It's the same type of notebook."

"C-cool." Gloves felt along the walls, reaching for larger divots to ground himself to the present. He could feel himself slipping away, slipping--

His hand suddenly grabs at thin air and there's a clunking sound. Half-Rim is looking at him, eyes slightly wide. "What did you do?"

Gloves follows his gaze to his own hand, still gripping part of the wall; part of the wall that was no longer connected to the rest of the cell. He had accidentally ripped part of the wall away in his panic attack. "Wha--?"

Half-Rim shuffles over to him, crouching near the new hole. He experimentally pokes it and parts of the metal barrier fall away. "Strange," he hums and then, without further warning, jams his hand into the hole, straining for a moment before drawing away, a chunk of metal in his fist.

"It seems like the previous team had managed to dig a hole here," he says thoughtfully. "And once they were all dead, they must've covered it up, but not well enough. So I assume the last member pushed the pieces back in before they went out to the arena."

Gloves isn't listening anymore, his hands scrabbling at the opened hole, pulling away bits and pieces at a time. Half-Rim, noticing his intentions, reaches in to help him. After about five minutes, they manage to clear the hole out, a prick of light shining in from the other side.

"We could dig our way out of here, probably," Gloves says, and using a bigger shard of metal, digs into the wall, twisting until the small hole opens to become wide enough to accommodate an Inkling's squid form.

Only then does Gloves realize there's noise coming from the other side. Before he can investigate, a very face appears in the hole. "Gloves? Half-Rim? You're here too? How??"

Gloves reels backward, eyes wide in shock. "Stealth?"

The Inkling in question grins slightly. "Hey Gloves. Nice to see you again."


	5. we can dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clip learns something new. This changes everything....

 [[ROUND TWO: START

Bobble-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Olive-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Sailor-white chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Straw-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Tri-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Aviator-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Beanie-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Stripe-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Ikarus-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Clip-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Blazer-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Inkfall-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
School Metry-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Tennis Headband-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Squid Mask-kun ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Emperor ((STATUS: ALIVE))

]]

Peering further into the adjacent cell, Gloves can see Bamboo-chan leaning against the wall, face neutral. "So you're here in this nightmare too, huh?" She crosses her arms. "Figures."

"Did you know these cells are connected?" Stealth asks Bamboo, as if she isn't in the cell with him.

She rolls her eyes and makes eye contact with Gloves. "They weren't too smart with the foundations of this place.  The cells all share walls. Orange team is on the other side of this one--" she taps the wall she's leaning against and there's a few seconds of silence before a series of taps echo back in return. "--that's Forge by the way. And that wall--" she points to the opposite wall, "--belongs to Team Emperor, and that one--" she points to the one directly in front of Gloves, the TV obscuring half of it. The names of the Inklings in the arena flicker ominously and as a loud cannon boom is heard, a name turns red. Bamboo continues as if nothing happened. "--is facing the inside of the arena. So we're all connected and if we all make holes, like how you just did, we could rally everyone together and find a way out of here."

There's another cannon bang in the distance and a scroll drops through the opening of the Yellow-Green team's slot. It lands on the floor between Stealth and Bamboo, who both look at it, with varying degrees of trepidation.

"Blazer is dead," Bamboo says, her eyes showing some deeper sadness than Gloves can recognize. "I volunteered to go in her place but--"

"That isn't how it works here," Half-Rim finishes. His face is still drawn blank, but Gloves can sense the waves of emotion rolling off of him.

Stealth kneels to pick up the scroll, unfurling it with an air of hesitation and Gloves knows by the sudden way his lips pinch together that he's the next one chosen. "I'll be going then."

Bamboo throws her arms around her teammate and they stand there for a moment before she reluctantly lets go and moves away. "Good luck. Stay alive, okay?" 

"I'll try my best," Stealth replies, and he disappears, Bamboo turning to face Gloves, the tears evident in her eyes. 

"How sick is this?" she says, but it's not aimed at Gloves, nor Half-Rim, who's staring at the TV without really seeing it.

Two cannon bangs go off in quick succession and Gloves forces himself to ignore the TV, but he can see the shading of red in his peripheral vision.

"Look," Half-Rim says suddenly, and both Bamboo and Gloves crowd around the television, their resistance to accepting that this game of death dissolving. "It's Emperor."

Gloves squints, and he can see that his teammate is right. The king himself is standing in open area, eyes narrowed, feet spread apart. In front of him is Goggles, whose eyes are filled with something that definitely isn't innocence. It's tears.

"Wait, wasn't Bobble in the arena two seconds ago?" Gloves suddenly recalls Clip talking to the blue Inkling and fear races through him as he glances to the list of names.

Clip's name still has a green dot next to it. Bobble's doesn't.

"She must've gotten killed somehow," Bamboo says, voice cracking slightly. "Emperor did it maybe?"

Despite their discussion, none of them bother to look at the death count tolling on the side of the screen that would've answered Bamboo's question. Maybe they don't want to.

"He's obsessed with Goggles," Half-Rim muses, watching Emperor face off with the younger Inkling. "Must've been the isolation that had done it. His eyes are mental."

It's true. Emperor's eyes are crazed and unfocused, two things Gloves had never known him for. He seemed fine when he was talking to Clip and Bobble earlier, but why now? Why does he look like he'll snap any moment?

"I can't watch," Bamboo whispers, but none of them tear their eyes away as Goggles says something and Emperor shouts something back, their words lost in the roar of the blue Inkling's Splashdown, water splattering everywhere, drenching the camera. When the liquid clears, Emperor is gone. Goggles is on his knees in the middle of a pool of water, eyes closed. 

In the distance, a cannon goes off.

"He killed him." Gloves can barely get the words out. Goggles. The most innocent, the one whom everyone loved. The favorite. The unusually skilled. The jokester. A murderer. "He killed--"

It's getting hard to breathe again. If Goggles killed  _Emperor_  then what chance did any of them stand in that arena? Would all of them be too far gone to help themselves from their own destruction of their mentality? 

Hands gently rub his back and Half-Rim comes into focus all of a sudden. Gloves is lying on his side, Bamboo anxiously standing over him, the TV still running in the background. A sudden  _bang_  almost sets him off but Half-Rim carefully tugs him upright, still rubbing his back. 

"It's okay. You're okay."

"Sorry," Gloves says finally, once he's able to get the words out. "I just--"

"I know," Half-Rim says softly. "I know."

\---------- **CLIP**

She doesn't know what happened but Bobble's dead. Some kind of landmine maybe, but all she knows is there was a loud noise, and explosion, and suddenly she's on her back looking up at some trees, dazed. 

There's the noise of a Splashdown nearby but she can't focus on her surroundings. Everything's spinning so much she can only see green, green, green, green, pink, green---

Wait.

She blinks twice and Metry-chan swims into view, hand held out in a friendly manner. "Hi!"

"Hi?" Clip allows herself to be pulled to her feet, wobbling slightly. Now that she's standing, she can see that Straw-chan and Aviator-kun are standing behind her, their injuries more apparent that her spinning head.

Aviator is dripping from the side of his face, purple ink running into his ear and sliding down his neck and staining his jacket. Straw's hat is shredded on the top, arms and legs full of scratches. Metry herself is the least injured out of the three and her tentacles are too mussed to be seen as a bedhead. She turns slightly and Clip winces at the huge gash on the underside of her tentacle.

"You wanna join us?" Metry gestures to the other two. "Olive got killed so we need someone new."

"I-- wha?"

"Great!" Metry grabs Clip's wrist and tugs her forward. "You're not going to regret this."

"Hang on!" Her head suddenly clears and Clip wrenches her arm from the other girl's grasp. "Why are we teaming up?"

"You don't trust us?" Metry bats her eyes at Clip, but the green Inkling isn't falling for it.

"Not in a million years. If not you, then those two." She points to Straw and Aviator. "Are we just going to hide?"

"No, we're going to team up on others," Metry says airily, like it's the most normal thing to do. "You know it's the only way to get out of here."

"What do you mean?"

"We're supposed to win," Metry explains. "And once one person or team is left standing, everyone else gets freed."

"Everyone else is  _dead_ ," Clip says angrily and she feels her eyes burn with unshed tears.

_Straps...._

"No," Aviator speaks up suddenly and Clip's eyes dart to him. "They're alive. They're just.... not here."

"You're delusional," Clip growls. "What? Did the deaths get to your head?"

"No, I'm not kidding," Metry says, and her eyes are suddenly so serious, Clip regrets meeting her gaze. "They're  _alive_  and we can free them. If we just take down the others and then have one designated person standing, we can--"

"We  _can't._ " Clip lets the tears flow. Everyone who died, everyone who entered this arena, they're all gone. She knows that. These three don't seem to understand. "We can't do anything except play this game--"

"What do you think their end goal is?" Straw asks. "To kill everyone?"

"Well yes--" Clip starts to say, but the pink Inkling shakes her head. 

"No. There's no point in us being dead. They just want us to obey them. This is the only way they can think of while being entertained."

"Who's  _they_?" Clip gestures wildly to the space around them. "There's no one here!"

"The people who arranged these 'games'," Metry replies. "The Octolings. That telephone. They want to brainwash people and make them think they've lost everything and use that against us to control us."

Clip swallows hard. It's so far off the board, but she doesn't know what to believe anymore. She needs to win,  _has_  to win. Or else the rest of her teammates die. Which means she can't trust anyone. "I--- I can't. I don't trust you."

"That's expected," Metry says slowly. "But what if we said we have a way out? If we go into those holes in the ground--"

There's a sudden rumble and the rest of her words are swallowed up by the noise. Clip's eyes dart upwards to see a gigantic moving waterfall heading towards them, the water falling with enough force to punture the earth beneath.

"Run!" she screams, even though she knows none of them will hear her. She turns on her heel and sprints, her shoes slipping in the wet dirt, and she falls, faceplanting in the mud. She forces herself to stand again, and the waterfall is so close, flecks of water land on her legs, sizzling as they make impact. 

But it stops just as quickly as it started, leaving her limping and covered in water.

Metry, Aviator, and Straw are gone.

She knows they couldn't have outrun that. They shouldn't have been able to. Her theory is proved when three cannon blasts echo through the arena, and her heart skips a beat as she stares at the gouges made by the water. Her gaze slides upwards to stare at the sky and she sees a helicopter exiting the arena, already too small to see, but a spark of hope rises in her.

Maybe they were telling the truth. Maybe there was a way to get them back.

"This is for you too, guys," she murmurs, right as the helicopter makes a second round over the arena and opens the waterfall directly on top of her.

The next cannon goes off without her hearing it.


	6. the next victim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things happen and more people die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like i write like,, 1 sentence per day and it turns out like this

[[ROUND TWO: START

 

Bobble-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Olive-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Sailor-white chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Straw-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Tri-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Aviator-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Beanie-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Stripe-chan ((STATUS: ALIVE))  
Ikarus-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Clip-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Blazer-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Inkfall-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
School Metry-chan ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Tennis Headband-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Squid Mask-kun ((STATUS: DECEASED))  
Emperor ((STATUS: DECEASED))

]]

Clip is dead, Clip is dead, Clip is  _dead_. It takes all of Gloves' self control not to throw himself at the TV.

He saw that brutal triple kill. He saw it. He saw them talking beforehand, and he had some hope, but now.

But  _now...._

"I wonder what they were talking about," Half-Rim says thoughtfully. He looks shaken, of course, but it's typical Half-Rim to direct attention to things that required less emotion.

"Probably about teaming up," Bamboo says, and when Gloves looks over at her, he can see fresh tears on her face. "Metry probably found something out. And then they had to eliminate all of them because they knew too much."

"Seems awfully unlikely, but I think that's all we're going to have to take," Half-Rim muses.

A cannon bang goes off but none of them acknowledge it. It's come to a point where they're used to the noise by now, the constant stress of waiting for their teammates, the anxiety from seeing former friends slaughter each other, it all became overwhelmingly numb to Gloves now.

Still.

Clip is dead and that means another one of them has to go into the arena in her place. That, and they're still in Yellow-Green Team's cell.

"We should probably go," Half-Rim says, as if reading Gloves' mind, rising to move towards the hole in the wall. "One of us will be back."

"Right." Bamboo nods stiffly, all business. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Of course." Gloves follows Half-Rim back through the hole, hearts thudding. He doesn't want to know who's next.

Half-Rim gets to the scroll first and unwinds it. His expression gives nothing away when Gloves holds his hand out to see. His hearts almost stop beating entirely.

_Half-Rim_

His friend, maybe sometimes more than a friend, but someone he's been with for so long, he doesn't even remember how they first met. He looks up to see his friend stand resolutely as another cannon goes off, followed shortly by two more. Time seems to stand still as Half-Rim turns to go, but before he can leave the cell, Gloves catches him by the arm and kisses him on the cheek.

"Stay safe."

Half-Rim nods slightly, offering the other a small, but genuine, smile. "I will. Take care of yourself, Gloves."

And then he's gone.

Gloves just sinks to the ground, staring unseeingly at the TV. The names listed for the second round are all red, which means every third person is in the arena. Safari, for some reason, is marked as red, and even as he glances at his name, a cannon goes off and N-Pacer's name now has a red dot as well.

Snipers have an unfair advantage in this cruel game, and Gloves only realizes how outnumbered Half-Rim will be in the arena.

He looks back to the hole in the cell wall and after a brief pause, crawls back through to the Yellow Green Team cell. Bamboo is sitting huddled against the wall, rocking back and forth. He taps her on the shoulder and when she turns, he offers her a slight smile. "You want some company?"

She smiles back gratefully. "That'd be great."

\-----HALF-RIM

Half-Rim doesn't know what to do in the arena; he sure as shell doesn't want to kill anyone. Not that it really mattered anyway.

His goal in mind is to find that bomb that Straps hid. He hopes that it will somehow come in use to help everyone escape, now that he knows the cells are connected. But right now...

"Half-Rim!" He turns at the familiar voice and sees Prince a few feet away, waving at him. He doesn't recall the younger being in the arena before he himself was called in... did that mean..?

"Hey Prince," he greets the other. He doesn't drop his guard, but merely lets it slip for a few. Prince is innocent enough, but he's on the Monarch Team, a rather formidable and skilled opponent, and for that reason, Half-Rim keeps the safety off of his Splatterscope. "Are you out already?"

Prince, instead of getting angry, merely stands there. "Yeah," he says quietly, and Half-Rim doesn't need to be a psychiatrist to know something's wrong.

"Do you need to talk for a moment? No ill intentions," Half-Rim adds quickly, in case Prince is suspicious, but the other doesn't look like they're expecting an attack. He clicks on the safety so Prince can see and gently leads the younger to the side, behind a clump of bushes. He sits crosslegged on the ground, Prince sinking to his knees besides him, and waits.

"He told me he would kill Goggles in my name," Prince says finally, eyes growing distant. "But Goggles was still alive by the time N-Pacer went out."

"Would you have wanted him to die?" Half-Rim asks, hand fingering the scope on his charger. He doesn't need to ask to know that Prince is talking about Emperor. His brother's death must've scarred him.

"I'd rather neither would have to do anything to each other," Prince replies truthfully, turning to look at the older Inkling. He doesn't seem aware that Goggles himself is standing in front of the clump of bushes, inspecting his weapon. "Goggles probably didn't want to kill him, as far as I know.  He's too nice, but he knows when he needs to protect himself. I'd rather form an alliance with Goggles as of now, anyway."

"You can avoid him if you need to," Half-Rim suggests, eyes flicking to the blue Inkling. "Don't let your guilt define you."

Prince shrugs. "It's okay.  I've got it figured out." He stands and looks back. "Cover me, will you?"

Half-Rim nods and gets to his feet as well, holding down the trigger to use his scope and watches as Princes walks out of the brush and meets Goggles face to face.

Goggles responds as expected: his Splattershot comes up to aim at Prince's head, but the younger Inkling drops his Dualies onto the ground. "I don't want to fight you."

Goggles hesitates, but he lowers his weapon as well and drops it in the dirt. "I thought you would be mad at me about your brother."

"I am, but you're my friend," Prince replies, a faint smile spreading across his face.

Goggles breaks into a wide grin. "Awh, c'mere!"

He throws his arms around Prince, who hugs back just as enthusiastically, though Half-Rim can suddenly see the tears trickling out of the corner of the younger's eyes.

Something is wrong.  Very wrong.

Goggles must've realized that Prince is crying, because he pulls away. "Prince, are you alright?"

Half-Rim catches Prince's very subtle glance towards the ground and as he moves the scope downwards to see what he's looking at, his heart nearly stops in shock.

_A golden curling bomb._

Goggles looks down as well, and his eyes widen and mouth opens before the bomb explodes in Prince's hand and two cannons fire nearly simultaneously.

Half-Rim retracts his scope in horror and he slowly clips on the safety, hands shaking.

Team Emperor is gone, and Blue Team has only one member remaining.


End file.
